Scottish Rugby pull off major coup with signing of David Nucifora

Scottish Rugby has secured the signature of former Irish Rugby High-Performance Director David Nucifora on a two-year deal.

Beginning his new post in November, the 62-year-old Australian will have a similar brief to the one he held with Irish Rugby but will operate on a consultancy basis.

Filling the void left by Jim Mallinder’s departure, Nucifora will cover all aspects of the traditional Performance Director role, including creating an effective pathway for emerging players. In addition to these responsibilities, he will assist the board in sourcing a permanent candidate for the role ahead of the conclusion of his contract.

Nucifora’s move to Edinburgh comes on the back of a highly successful ten-year run with Irish Rugby, during which time Ireland has won four Six Nations titles since 2014, including two Grand Slams, as well as three Under-20 Grand Slams in the past five years. Away from the XV-a-side game, he is credited with developing the Ireland 7s programs for both the men’s and women’s teams, which has paid dividends with both sides becoming mainstays on the HSBC SVNS Series.

Regarded as a tough and uncompromising character, the former test hooker has reportedly been in contact with Scottish Rugby for close to a year. Initially, the SRU had hoped that he would be a direct replacement for Mallinder; however, he was not keen on the full-time role, given his desire to return home to Australia.

This desire to return home, combined with a part-time advisory role that he has already agreed to with Rugby Australia, meant that a consultancy role was the happy medium for both parties.

In practical terms Nucifora will spend portions of the year in Scotland beginning with this year’s Autumn series where Scotland will host Fiji, South Africa, Portugal and Australia.

Scottish Rugby are also in the hunt for a new Chief Executive following the exit of long-serving Mark Dodson earlier this year, with reports suggesting they hope to have someone in place before the end of the year.